Directors Seminar April 2017

Daniel has a tradition that everything he learns when he goes to the DTA cluster meetings, he shares with all his Directors and their spouses including those who report to headquarters don't even report to him but that work in his office anyway. He needs to know how they are doing because they do work for the office indirectly. The dates chosen for this Seminar was April 19-21

This takes place every six months after Daniel has met with the Presiding Bishopric. He meets every Spring at a cluster meeting and in October in Salt Lake. This year the training was about simplicity and how we should go back to the basics and how to simplify what we do to be more effective. This was also the grand opportunity to get to know each other better and to share common goals as individuals, families and in the work place.

One of the highlights of the seminar was a devotional by Elder Bowen. He basically had on the board three important aspects of our life: God, family and work. When you think about it, most of what we do have to do with those three things in our life.

He had a power point presentation with the tittle reading:

“What I want from you”

In bold letters he enlisted all the things he wants us to do.

He wrote, I want you to:

… be a whole person.

… have a written plan for your life.

…recognize that this is a spiritual work, It is not just another job.

… go to the temple with your spouse at least once a month.

… fast once a month and to double your fast offerings.

… go on a date once a week with your spouses.

… hug and kiss your husband or wife and children every day.

… tell your family verbally “I love you”

… hold Family Home Evening every Monday night.

… have a regular exercise program.

… eat right.

… have perfect integrity.

… have joy in your work.

… pursue excellence in all that you do.

…to be teachable and not offended by correction.

…to treat every person you work with love and respect.

…to be fair in pay and work expectations with all of our employees including managers.

…I want the protection that comes from councils.

… I want every one’s name to be safe in the organization. We don’t speak ill of anyone.

… I want you to develop leaders and leadership within the organization.

…I want there to be a cross training in all organizations so we are not dependent on any one person in any one area.

… to become master teachers.

…I want every of the organization to have clearly in their mind who their client is,and then I ant to amaze our clients with our service and expertise.

…I want a Can do attitude. I don’t want to have excuses why we can’t do something to have viable ideas of how we can do it.

…I don’t mind problems but I don’t want surprises.

…I want specific procedures developed to solve specific recurring problems, then the problem is no longer a problem.

… I want everyone to know there is no right way to do a wrong thing.

…I don’t want exceptions to become the rule. There will be very few exceptions.

Elder Bowen ended his presentation by stating: Working for the Church is a privileged, not a right. He told as a story of when he got married forty years ago, at age 22 when he was still in school and worked for an Insurance company but soon discover he could start his own business and that is when he became financially sound. By age 35 he was debt free. He and his wife have had many trials including a son and granddaughter who have passed away. He is now the Philippine’s Area President and last Sunday we attended a special sacrament meeting with all the Area Seventies and like always it is a treat to attend those meetings.

I remember seeing the presentation before so I knew what was coming so it was a good reminder for me. The emphasis this time is simplicity. Keeping things as simple as possible and going back to the basics. They want to make sure people understand that the gospel of Jesus Christ does not need to be a complicated thing.

This time the Seminar started with a temple session and devotional by Elder Bowen. The office choir came and sang the most beautiful rendition of be still my soul. All in all the meetings were very productive and the spouses were able to learn more about the work our husbands and wives are doing daily and why they need our support.

Con amor,
Vero